The Gentle Smile
by ZAFT Girl
Summary: Nicol's point of view of the Gundam SEED serise with lots of Yzak, Dearka and Athrun. Extra detail on missions w/ more personal moments. Will be about 30 chapters long; feel free to skim the first few chaps... very boring.
1. Prologue

So, this is basically Nicol's life during the military, and during his surleave in the PLANTs. There will be about.... 30 chapters (discluding credits), however many there were with Nicol alive, this one is like a prologue, so 29 chapters. There will be a credits chapter at the end in proper, legal, essay format. Some quotes will be used, or as close to the real as possible, HOWEVER, this story will focus on the "behind" story as much as the known story.

**It gets progressivly more interesting after chapter 3 (Episode 2: The Hill) and will become more intereesting as the story moves on. The events have some accuracy because I watch the episodes while I write. Please read and review!**

I will place ZAFT OCs in the story (Earth ones need to be given before ch4) as BREIF SECOND people, like, someone delivering orders or something. I just need to know their name, hair style/color, eye color and male or female. I do not really need to know their position. First come, first serve. **This will not be an OC story. But, if you give a request in a review before the next chapter, they will be in the mission.**

Sorry if the first chapter (this one) is a little hard to follow. I did my best.

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We are an elite team of soldiers, trained in self-defence, explosives, weapons and various other forms of warfare. We have received orders from the high council to infiltrate a supposedly neutral, Orb space colony known as Heliopolis which is home to a facility known as Morganrate. What we've been ordered to do is retrieve the prototype mobile suits from this facility and destroy the Archangel-class warship from inside.

I've just gotten to know these other guys that I'm now on a team with, save for Athrun, who I met at the academy. Athrun is my best friend, he was a rather kind individual, there is nothing really special about his personality, but I get along with him quite well. The other three guys, on the other hand were defiantly worth noting. Yzak Joule, our albino weapons expert (true fact), was easy to anger, strong willed, self-righteous and arrogant; he constantly competed with Athrun, always trying to best him – and normally failing. Our 'ladies man' is Dearka Elsman, he had no special talents, but he was pretty handy with a sniper and could provide excellent cover fire from the rear. He was vindictive, inappropriate and always found ways to provoke Yzak to become even angrier with people (mainly Athrun), and yet was the only one brave enough to stand by the hothead's side. He seems to be Yzak's counterpart, even in looks; he is just as handsome with tan skin that contrasts with his slick golden hair. The member of the team that prevents them from killing each other is Rusty Mackenzie; he serves as the mentor of our group. He is sociable, casual and inquisitive, never unquestioning of our orders (but the commander doesn't know that). He has the same blue eyes as Yzak, except his are kinder and less sharp; his red hair and faint freckles contrasts them well. I figured that his family never changed his parents' DNA so that his hair color would be unnatural, after all, only coordinators end up with 'strangely' coloured hair, like mine for example. I've never seen a natural with green hair and brown eyes… Oh, that's right; I've not introduced myself yet! My name is Nicol Amalfi, I'm fifteen years old (the youngest) and I am the explosives expert (true fact) of the team. I'm not really sure how people would describe me. I'm told, by Yzak, that I'm a coward, but I don't agree. I do empathize with the enemy; I don't view them as monsters, like most. I just want to protect the PLANTs and fight for my family's honour. I enjoy playing the piano and writing music… other than that, there's not much important about me.

"Hey, Nicol, snap out of it." Dearka slapped me rather hard on the back, "we've got a job to do, get ready." Dearka was already in his red and pale lavender pilot uniform with his helmet slung over his shoulder. I had zoned out for a moment, I was still standing in my pale sky spandex shirt and shorts, staring at the contents of my locker which contained my red uniform (red coat), pilot suit, music sheets and a picture of my parents. "Uh, yeah, of coarse," I stammered, a little embarrassed. I reached for the pilot uniform and put it on, listening to Yzak brag about how easy this mission was to be; "They won't know what hit them! Us sneaking in and stealing their precious mobile suits… this is gonna be a joke!" I wanted to say something but I didn't I just thought to myself, "You shouldn't jump to conclusions. The difficulty of a mission cannot be predetermined in full. We don't know what kind of defences they have in place," apparently I had made the statement aloud, and rather loud because I had caught Yzak's attention. Before he could retort, our commander, Rau Le Kreuze (actual spelling), openly agreed with my statement and advised Yzak to not be so reckless, it could get him killed, as I zipped up my suit and locked my helmet in place atop my head. We were then ordered to equip ourselves with the weapons we would need to carry out this operation. We were soon joined by four other pilots, green coats (average pilots), as they were called, in the locker room. They too put on their pilot suits and joined us in equipping ourselves with guns, grenades, knives and other oddities which we stored in heavy green vests, the same color as the green coats uniforms, that were zipped down the front and connected like a harness (like a mountain climbing harness) around the legs; each of us carried a large, fully automatic machine gun. The green coats were entrusted with an extra bag that contained a fairly large, timed explosive filled with highly C4 that was to be used to accomplish two things, a distraction and a way of destroying the targeted warship.

Once fully equipped and our strategies were re-explained we departed to the hanger where we were to board a small military passenger space craft that would move on impulse engines, undetectable to radar. I stared at the small craft loathingly for a moment. I could feel that this mission was to end badly.

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PLEASE R&R


	2. Episode 1: Turning Point

OKAY! Chapter two! Please enjoy! If you just whanna skim this chapter, go a head. It's pretty much a lot of stuff you already know… just a little different. Still, it does have interesting parts.

PLEASE R&R, Even if you don't whanna read it, I don't care if ur a guest! That will enduce me to write more!

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I had taken my seat between the five green coat pilots, whose initial number was four, before we were informed that one of the pilots would be late, due to a mix up in preparations. I still, to this day, have no idea why we didn't wait for our mission to be approved by the council. The back of the craft had four seats, with the entrance of the craft, which was located in the back, between the fours seats. The craft was even smaller than I had thought, even the air felt close.

"Is this really okay?" I heard Rusty say took his seat in the upper row behind me, in the small craft, between Athrun and Yzak.

"Whaddya mean?" Yzak asked, as if to indicate that the answer was obvious.

"Orb is a neutral nation; this mission is violating that status…"

"They can't be neutral if they're manufacturing Earth mobile suits!"

Rusty laughed, "Of course, you're right. That's unacceptable."

I found Athrun and Dearka rather silent. I didn't hear their voices in the low mumble of the other seven soldiers, they must have been eager to start the mission... and yet, something had seemed to have been bothering Athrun earlier. He was pretty silent while we were getting ready. I wondered what he was thinking.

"Should we go?" Rusty asked in his regular, casual voice.

"Yeah," Yzak answered as the others fell quiet.

"Well, 'for the ZAFT', as they say." With that, I could feel the ship vibrate as we departed from the hanger bay, out into the eternal, hope dotted void of space.

After we had connected with the side of the colony, undetected, Athrun activated a pulse from the multipurpose timer on his wrist that would disengage the security lazors within the dark, humming tunnel ahead after he had remotely opened the hatch doors. He had quickly proven, once again, that we would remain undetectable. We slid through the twilit passage until the passage split into three separate paths using our jet packs. Honestly, I was nervous to separate from the group. This was our first important infiltration mission, and I didn't want to be to blame if we were to screw up. This possibility was highly unlikely, however. I floated in the cross way between the four paths (3 plus the one travelled on) while Athrun signalled our 'separation' orders. I was to go with one of the green coats down the left passage, taking staggered, nervous breaths of oxygen. I was sure that if our visors weren't fog proof, that I would have fogged it up in my anxiety. Maybe I was as much of a coward as Yzak considered me to be. The two of us went our separate ways as well, he to secure the bomb in the ship hanger and me to interfere with the security systems to the best of my ability.

I unzipped a pocket of my vest and took out a small, electronic map of the inner structures of the colony and followed it to my destination. I knew I was going to over shoot the distance if I didn't have the map. I came to a rather large box on the wall, using the key codes we had retrieved from an inside source, I opened the doors to the box and proceeded with rewiring and cutting wires in the fashion that I was trained in, careful to stay calm as to prevent my hands from shaking. I wondered how Athrun and the others were doing. Was every body okay? What if they were found? The exterior corridor where I floated in zero gravity shook, bringing me back the present. Miguel, a senior officer leading a section of the mobile suit attack force, must have led his team inside the colony already. I knew I needed focus on my job at hand. I closed my eyes and took a breath of unnatural air. This would prevent some of my worst fears and clear my head, for the time being.

Once I had completed my job I checked my timer. I needed to get out of this area on schedule, or I would be caught in the large shockwave from the sabotage bombs that the others were setting.

I had made my way out of the colony's exterior, into the interior and met up with the others in sector S at factory area 37. I was slightly late, the others who were already assessing our next move. I had made it out of the interior, prior to the detonation of the bombs. With the new warship destroyed, our mission was half complete. Yzak was looking our targets over with his binoculars and recording the data with them. I made my way to the front and knelt down on the edge of the cliff as he and Dearka on my right, Rusty on my left and Athrun standing a few feet behind me with the green coats. I glanced back, this wasn't a time for personal matters, but I was still concerned with the way he was acting. Did he feel that this mission was wrong, or at least morally conflicting? Turning back to the situation at hand, stared at the three large box shapes in the distance. They appeared as shadows to the naked eye, but they were indeed a cause of great concern to us. I heard Yzak call Miguel to verify the position of the targets and that they were to be in position, inside the interior, soon. Suddenly I received a hard slap on the back. It was Rusty. He was giving me a big, goofy smile as if to say "don't worry about it!" Of course, there was nothing to worry about, right? We just had to retrieve the five prototype mobile suits from the colony, the other two still being in the factory, which were apparently being prepped for transport. I half listened to Dearka and Yzak joke insultingly about the naturals and agreed that we should hurry up and "get this show on the road," or however they put it. Yzak signalled for Miguel's team to move in with their GINNs to begin the attack.

The GINNs fired upon the other boxes of cargo and cars, with and without machine guns, careful not to damage the mobile suits. The Naturals fought back, but there was just no way they could beat elite senior pilots such as Miguel, who's feats had earned him the name "The Magic Bullet of Dusk," and his own custom GINN (which was damaged before the battle on Heliopolis). This provided us with some cover, a diminishment of the enemy's strength and a diversion of their attention. If the citizens of Heliopolis didn't know we were there before, they did now. I wasn't afraid to die, but I certainly would prefer to live. I was nervous about running into the crossfire. On the battlefield, especially under these circumstances, it was everyman for himself.

We jumped from the cliff and used our jet packs to manoeuvre through the air to the road below. We were ordered, by Yzak to destroy everything we couldn't carry, including facilities. Didn't that mean that we might have to kill civilians as well as soldiers? We were informed that there were students here… Athrun spoke for the first time in a while "Rusty and I will head to the factory to capture the other two machines. Yzak, we'll leave these three to you guys." Athrun turned his head to the ZAFT soliders behind us, "Yukio, Jacob, Mark, Leo, you guys are with me. There are other green coats in position below to help the others." I glanced at Athrun and he looked me in the eye and gave me a bright smile, he didn't want me to worry about him, or Rusty. "Don't worry," he said so that just I could hear, "we'll be just fine." His words of assurance did nothing for me as we went our separate ways. Since when had life ever been that easy?

Snapping back to reality as I set my first foot on the ground, after using my jet back to travel from the cliff to the road, I had already begun firing. I was surprised by how many people were shooting at us. The explosions from Miguel's team far ahead, the detonation of bombs and the head pounding, earth shattering noises of guns was hard on my ears. I fired at anyone who was wearing the tabard of the enemy as I was trained to do. I made my way to the first container, which was not easy to get to. I ran and jumped behind an upturned car, and provided cover fire for the others who had gone ahead to the other carriers that were further way. I was in a bad position with little cover fire from the rear. Unclipping two pouches from my vest I retrieved two grenades, pulled their keys and threw them towards the enemy on the other side of the car, waiting for the explosion. After I had heard it, I made a run for the mobile suit container and tossed a gas grenade inside to kill any natural who might try to kill me. Seeing that the container was empty I climbed up the arm of the grey mobile suit and jumped back-first into the cockpit, flicking a switch to close the hatch door. I made various gestures as to activate the power throughout the mobile suit, and watched the screen as several words appeared on it:

Welcome to the M.O.S., Mobile Suit Operation System Version No.99

General

Unilateral

Nero-Link

Dispersive

Automatic

Manoeuvre.

Assessing the OS, I knew that it would need to be rewritten before it would move. Realizing how hot I felt, I removed my helmet and set it under the seat and whipped my brow. I could feel my hair sticking to my scalp ever so slightly. I inserted an updater chip that I brought with me (as did the other pilots) it into the system as I listened to the other pilots marvel at the "impressive-for naturals" made mobile suits. When that was finished I began recalibrating the system when Yzak asked me over the com whether I was done, I replied "almost there," and made a few more key strokes and activated the movement systems and eased the mobile suit into a standing position after equipping the shield and tricaros (How is that spelled?) weapons from inside the transporter box, getting used to the feel of the controls. "What about Athrun and Rusty, they're late. Taking their time I suppose." Dearka said casually. I was wondering the same thing. Their targets were not protected by soldiers, just factory workers, from what our intelligence had told us, they should have been finished first. Regardless of whether they were dead or alive, we needed to get these suits back to the ship undamaged. So with that, we used the mobile suits (which were designed for space combat only) thrusters on full to manoeuvre in the simulated gravity. As I rose to the opposite side of the colony where the exit was located, protected by Miguel's team's cover fire, I looked at the smoke rising from the factory district where the other two mobile suits, and Athrun and Rusty, were located, feeling a strange sense of loss and unease. What was happening down there?

Once back at the ship and with our mobile suits docked, we still hadn't heard much about Athrun or Rusty, just that the other two mobile suits were on the move. The three of us who had made it back were greeted with cheers and respect from the other soldiers in the hanger from a so-far completely successful, high priority mission such as this. Why did it feel… empty?

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Okay, so I PROMISE that the next chapter won't be this boring, but face it, the first episode was pretty uneventful for my three favourite characters (Yzak, Dearka and Nicol)

I promise to give Nicol a casual day of duty without fighting! Maybe I'll make a hot or cute moment if I love you enough!!!


	3. Episode 2: The Hill Into Eternity

From Episode 2

Short chapter, but not as boring and shitty as the last one!

**This chapter has been edited slightly. Athrun is not aboard the Gamow, but the Versalius. So now, we have no idea what's going on with them. Woooooooo. Miguel's team regulates between the two ships.**

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From the play-by-play we were receiving from the bridge, Ollar and Matthew, members of Miguel's team, were 'playing,' as they called it, with the Earth Alliance mobile suits in the area outside of the colony. They were winning, as usual. Mobile armours couldn't out manoeuvre a mobile suit, especially one piloted by a coordinator. Miguel was not with them. He was apparently in some sort of conflict in the interior factory district of the colony. I hoped he'd be okay, Athrun and Rusty too.

From the locker room, this over looked the hanger deck, we, Dearka, Yzak and I, watched curiously as the hanger bay's doors opended up and the fire and ermergency teams mobilized in anti-gravity.

"What's this? I wonder who took damage." Dearka said from his apparently comfortable spot by the window where he seemed to float to one side, comfortably in the air.

"I'll be damned if it's Miguel," Yzak scoffed. From what I could gather, Yzak thought quite a lot of Miguel and vies versa. Something he and Miguel shared was that they were both in the top of their class and they were equally as arrogant and full-of-themselves. I remained interested in the armless, incoming GINN, rather than in their conversation. I figured out a long time ago that staying out of their conversations would benefit me more than listening to them. The GINN slowed to a stop in the hanger, fire crews only approaching after the armour had been cooled with air jets that were mounted on a piece of large hardware in the hanger. A pilot in a green and black uniform exited the cockpit and appeared to be absolutely fine, which was a relief. He turned towards us and waved, as if to say "so far so good." It was Ollar; we could tell because we could see his skin tone from here, Matthew had much darker skin. I wanted to say aloud, "at least he's okay," but my wish to not be insulted by the older two pilots over powered the will. The mechanics moved the seventy-eight ton mobile suit into its place in the hanger to asses the damage while Ollar, after medical inspection, would assist in the repairs to his machine.

--------------------------------------------------

We watched the repair crews for some time, until we recieved word that Commander **Le Creuset was going to sorti.

"The commander is heading out? I thought this mission was pretty much a success! What's happening out there I wonder…?" Yzak sounded ready to jump in the mobile suit he captured called the Duel, so that he may have a taste of the possible action. Obviously it was not a very good idea. We stayed in our pilot suits, just encase we were needed in the airless hanger... that and more preparations would need to be made for the OS' of the mobile suits for them to be complete. I was curious as to the status of the battle as Yzak was.

"Have we received any information on Rusty and Miguel? We've been back on the Vesalius for over an hour, what could be taking them?" I was beginning to feel anxious and maybe a little scared, but I wasn't about to admit that to myself at that moment.

"No, nothing new, but I'm sure they're fine. Stop worrying about them; you'll give yourself a brain aneurism." I was glad Dearka was trying, even if the effort was miniscule, to make me feel slightly at ease. I sometimes wondered whether Dearka was a jerk to me because he wanted Yzak to accept him. I would never know. What could be so important that one of ZAFT's best commanders was going sorti himself?

"You guys don't think… that… maybe…" My heart sank until it felt as if it was in my stomach.

"Relax Nicol. One of them is probably just running a little late. Stop worrying, will ya?" Dearka said which caused Yzak to sneer.

"You mean that one of them is doing a half assed job."

I rolled my eyes, grabbed my helmet and connected it to the neck of my suit as I headed down the white hallways after leaving the locker room to the other two boys who were engaged in a conversation about who was most likely to be in the returning mobile suit. I made my way to the silver plated hanger deck to see if I could get some internal reconstruction done to my mobile suit's OS (Operating System). Surly, by now, it would be alright. It would get my mind off of the 'what ifs' of the current status of the other pilots.

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** **Actual spelling according to official subtites from the DVD serise, not Youtube. **Yes, I was dorky enough to buy them, but no other Gundam serise. *hides them under the bed* None....

Please REVIEW, even if you're a guest! It will make me update this faster, garunteed!


	4. Episode 3: Over and Done With

I'm glad that you guys are enjoying this. This next chapter may remind some of you "Gundam SEED scavengers" of an YzakXNicol doujinshi. It half inspired me on how I would approach this chapter.

Sorry for the lateness, I've been grounded for not making my bed (stricthouseplz) and I bought two _NICE_ manila paged sketchbooks for charcoal drawings and I've been having a blast with them. I bought them at Mardins for $0.99, worth like, $10. Ja, good buy, good quality... drove forever to get to the States to get them… AND WOWCRAFT MTN DEW -- Wewt.

**You'll notice that I changed the ending of the last chapter. You see, I made a critical error. Go back and read the last bit (or do the easy thing and scan over it real quick).**

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From what I had heard from Ollar and Matthew earlier (Miguel was currently aboard the Vesalius), the three of them were to enter the colony and retrieved the remaining mobile suit from the Naturals and destroy the war ship which was supposed to have been destroyed by the bombs that had been set earlier. We watched as Matthew's mobile suit was equipped with highly destructive (too powerful for inside a colony) D-equipment from the large window overlooking the hanger from locker room.

*

"D-equipment I hear," Dearka said casually.

"I take it Commander Le Creuset is planning on storming a fortress or something," answered the other blonde.

I knew perfectly well that this mission was getting out of hand. The colony would surly be damaged by the GINNs' equipment. "What do you think is gonna happen to Heliopolis?"

Dearka, who seemed to give little consideration to the people who lived there, answered, "Can't be helped now can it,"

"Ya, it serves them right, and they call themselves a neutral state."

**

I turned away from them to stare out into the hanger. I slid my eyes over the large explosives that were being equipped to the GINN. There has to be more to all this than we're seeing. For some reason, it felt as if this were of Junius 7 all over again except we weren't intentionally killing nearly one million people without being provoked.

I'm starting to sound to narcissistic, I thought. We were soldiers and soldiers did as they were told, no questions asked. To clear my head, I decided to go to my room, which I was lucky enough to have to myself, to write some music. Something that was, at one point, effortless, painless and soothing. Maybe, I'd write a waltz.

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I lounged on my bed; the music writing had become boring. Sometimes, I thought that I had a short attention span, but I knew it wasn't true, and yet today I couldn't keep my mind on anything. I couldn't focus, probably because of that gut feeling I had been having. My mind drifted for a moment, and then I heard voices passing outside the door beside me. "Did you hear? They destroyed the inside of the colony! Did Commander Le Creuset plan that when he ordered the equipping of the D-equipment?" and then another voice answered as I bolted straight up, the force causing me to float of the bed, "Yeah, apparently we're going to pursue the final suit and…" the voice went out of my auditory range. I turned and stared at the door from the area above the lower part of my bed, feeling a combination of helplessness, worry and regret. These emotions were felt for different reasons; my friends could be hurt, or worse. Were the civilians safe? The other reasons were that which I could not explain. They were just there, they seemed logical, though without reason.

This update I couldn't believe for two reasons, one, it was hard to accept, and two, it was just gossip. I tired to begin a letter to my mother to cheer me up, but the feeling to go to the bridge and request an update was immense. I sighed, closed and inserted the screen of my laptop into the keyboard and set it in the desk. It looks like I'm going to have to go ask for an explanation. I stood from my chair and clicked the open button beside the door. The lights seemed dimmer in the ship. Weird.

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I re-entered the locker room where I heard Yzak gossiping with Dearka, "I can't believe Commander Le Creuset's unit lost an arm in one of the last attacks, and then, after that, when the GINNs had sortied, Athrun took his stolen unit and joined them! He went against orders! What a laugh!" I had just been to the bridge, eager to find out what I could about the inner happenings of the colony; however my gut feelings had been accurate. Something had gone wrong.

"May I interrupt? I have some… information about our mission." I really didn't have want to be the one to tell them, but I felt it was more my responsibility than any other officer.

Dearka laughed and then said, "What? That we have ourselves a total success and we've earned some shore leave?"

"Not exactly…"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Yzak shot me a familiar icy glare over his back from the sofa.

I inhaled, "We managed to capture one of the other machines from the inner factory district,"

"You were starting to make it sound as if it wasn't a succ-"

"Let me finish, Dearka. As I was saying," my knees felt a little numb, "it did cost us," I was afraid to say the final words; I knew that if I said them, the reality would be harder to accept. I didn't want to show them I was weak, like they thought I was, but, he was my friend too.

Yzak rolled his eyes in such a way that his entire head seemed to move, "would you _please_ get on with it?"

I inhaled and exhaled quickly and answered in what must have been a shrinking voice, "Rusty's dead… Miguel, Ollar and Matthew, too… not only that, but they destroyed the better part of Heliopolis while fighting."

Disbelieving silence was my answer.

After the words had sunken in a little, for all of us, they began to bombard me with questions and complaints. Rusty was the glue that stayed in the middle of all of us that kept us from trying to kill each other and Miguel's team were our mentors since we left the military academy. I wanted to cover my ears, or at least, shut my eyes, at the older boys who had approached me in rather defensive manners. It was making me even more uncomfortable than I am, "Would you guys please just SHUT UP." Stunned silence, once again. They blinked at me for a moment, "I'm just as upset and confused as you are! I've only told you what I know!" I quickly turned and headed out the door to my room. I had left an uncommon silence in the room behind me. We were soliders, we had to get over it. Some how, I knew I could. I knew, if I did, I'd feel guilty.

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**Areas between * and ** are direct quotes (the spoken parts) from the DVD. All references will be duely noted in the final chapter of this story in accordance with the current ELPA **(I think that's what it's called)**. **

If you feel at I did something random, OC or irrelevant, leave me a reply or send me a note, I can and will send you a reply ASAP and explain to you WHY it's there. 90% of my random adds are relevant if you think a little deeper (especially with wordings).

Tri, you were so fucking right. There needs to be less of Nicol's "in-his-head-ed-ness," this was fucking boring. Anyone have ideas for making it less boring? FUCKINGAWKWARDALMOSTSEXSCENEWHAT? XD

Okay, I'm gonna piss Yzak off in the next chapter.


	5. Episode 4: Silence

Sorry, no mad Yzak. It just didn't fit in to what I was trying to accomplish.

PLEASE R&R!

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A new development. The colony had nearly disintegrated, the pieces floated in space. I couldn't figure out what was going on. All I knew was that an incredible force had blasted through the side of the colony and that the battle that had taken the lives of three of ZAFT's best pilots, Miguel, Olar and Mathew, had destroyed it. I anticipated my next conversation with Athrun, as he had been present on the raid; I wanted to drill him with countless questions on the result of our failed mission: we lost one machine; we failed to destroy the enemy warship and destroyed a neutral colony, regardless of what it held. I wondered how the council would respond to this. I was also curious about why he, son of Patrick Zala, would dare to defy orders. Would they punish all of us for our faliure? Regardless of our (the Le Creuset Team's) parents being on the council, punishment would be no less if it were to be. I stared at the viewing screen which had given me much of the information I didn't already know, wondering _"what now?"_

I spaced out for an unprecedented amount of time… I reflected on all that had gone wrong within the last eight hours. Six since we entered the colony.

"All pilots to the bridge for a briefing." The message was repeated twice over the intercom. Snapping back to reality I exited the cafeteria and promptly headed to the bridge elevator almost automatically.

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(Note: the bridge of the Gamow is smaller than the Vesalius)

"So the enemy warship is moving?" Yzak sounded a bit excited. He was liking the turn of events, even though leaving the ship intact was a mission failure.

"Yes. We will attempt to cut their warship with the Vesalius (which is apparently how it's supposed to be spelled); the Gamow will trail from behind. The three of you and Athrun will sortie with the machines you captured and destroy the warship." Captain Zelman was a smaller man, but taller than the pilots in stature. He always looked serious with his dark, well trimmed beard. It made him look like the experienced captain he was.

"Sounds like fun," Dearka said smoothly as he leaned (as much as you can in zero gravity) against the while plated walls near the briefing section of the bridge that contained a strategy table. He uncrossed his arms and gestured with his hands, "it looks like we get to do this the fun way. I'm almost glad we screwed up the first time."

"And would you like to tell _that_ to our commander?" Yzak was right in the idea behind his comment. Dearka was always putting his foot in his mouth. I wondered how the girls he commonly chased responded to his displaced sarcasm. I was sure asking him would earn me some type of painful punishment.

Dearka made a strange spitting noise, without actually spitting and looked away. I wanted to get business done. I wasn't very fond of these two, not only because their views towards me were inaccurate, but their personalities were more aggressive that I would have liked. "What's the battle plan?" I wanted to get back on topic.

"Like we need one. The Naturals are stupid and primitive, we can take them and their machine, which is piloted by a Natural, might I add. It should be a piece of cake for us." Again with the Coordinator superiority crap. Why was it that whenever they made Natural inferiority comments that it sounded like the primitive garbling of a racial group from the past that called themselves the Klu Klux Klan? So much for "learning History so it would never happen again." Not to mention that we _didn't_ evolve***.

Another conversation that went no where. Coordinators were better. Blah, blah, blah… We had no real battle plan, just the element of surprise; we were using the stolen machines. They wouldn't see it coming. Somehow, I did feel that Yzak and Dearka were right. It was true that we were physically more advanced, mentally superior and we were elite pilots. It shouldn't be a problem to take down one ship and G-weapon... right?

Thinking plans through was not one of our self-appointed leader's strong points when it came to his favourite, basic, fact: Coordinators are better.

* * *

This was to be my first battle with my machine, the GAT-X207 Blitz; I was still getting used to the cockpit of the Earth-made, untested, mobile suit.

I surprised myself. I was sure it was excitement I was feeling, rather than anticipation. I laughed to myself. I really did love flying, the freedom and the power of mobile suits. I took a moment to admire the cockpit of my mobile suit while I waited for my orders to launch. I may have been wearing gloves and an insulated suit, but I could still feel rather well.

The LED monitors were bright and new, with targeting marks integrated into the main screens and the smaller screens that showed the mobil suit's status, the radar and other functions were as bright as the others. I slid my feet onto the speed emitters, a good fit, although they were a bit longer than my feet. My hands rested on the hand controls, gripping the new padding of the hand controls in anticipation of the first test for my suit, my four fingers on each hand on the square orange buttons, my thumb on the round side button. I leaned into my orange seat, resting my head. This was good. It _felt_ right. It was right, and yet, it was wrong. I closed my eyes for a moment.

"Blitz, prepare to launch." I opened my eyes to look at the CIC operator on the small upper communication screen.

"Understood." I entered the linerar catapult after flicking a few buttons and moving my hands and feet to control the suit, flicking more buttons the red abort lights changed green. "Nicol Amalfi, Blitz, launching."

* * *

"Hey, Nicol, something wrong? Dearka asked me over the mobile suit intercom, clearly not out of concern.

"I'm fine." A monotone reply.

"Good. We've gotta beat Athrun to the Archangel, or were you listening to Yzak and me a second ago?"

I wrinkled up my nose for a moment, "Yeah, I was listening." Half listening. I watched the mark on my radar that read "GAT-X303 Aegis." I now had my own machine which I could use to protect and honour my family and friends, make my mother proud. I wondered what this machine could _really_ do.

The other two machines accelerated, I followed.

*

_Behind the church-door with all speed;_

_The moon still continues her clear light to shed_

_On the dance that they fearfully lead._

_But the dancers at length disappear one by one,_

_And their shrouds, ere they vanish, they_

_carefully don._

_Under the turf all is quiet._

*

* * *

Sorry for the minimal happenings. The whole point of this story is what lies between battles, sooooooo….. Yeah, enjoy.

* Dance of Death: _(_ENGLISH translation from _The Poems of Goethe - Translated in the Original Metres_ by Edgar Alfred Bowring, E. A. B. London, 1874) .... I'm such a sucker for Goethe. I'm sorry. His poetry is just so... so... brilliant. This passage reminds me of (1)battle (2)The Blitz's little invisibility trick ;) (3) Nicol's musician-ness. :)

*** It is a common belief that coordinators evolved, rather than being products of experiments. :)


	6. Episode 5: Protection from the Fall

* * *

Please comment or you're not getting more for another long while, thanks.

* * *

It was like running in the rain, trying not to get wet, except, I wasn't dodging water, only high frequency lasers and shells, either dodging them or dyeing. It was close, but the adrenaline rush made me not care. I loved the freedom that lay within my speed. I simply used my shield to deflect what I could and avoided all else, however, it was difficult to get close to the ship. The lights for the artillery that exploded on my shield lit my screen and shook me, causing me to tense and grit my teeth. Most of the Earth ships were not equipped with a huge particle beam arsenal, even if they were warships. Thisship was a bit better than the norm, however.

I was to take care of the ship with Dearka while Yzak backed up Athrun with the Duel against the Strike, which was what the enemy machine was called. It seemed none of us had made any progress, however, I made a bit of a plan to get close to the ship as I heard Dearka complain, which was nothing new, about how well equipped the ship was, and a fairly simple one at that.

"I'll hit them from below, cover me!"

"Roger that."

I flew past the Buster, straight at the enemy vessel from above, diving over one of the ship's short wings, turning and slowing from below the hull. During the whole dive I could hear the thrusters of my machine roar within the nothingness of space. The thrill of my hopeful kill filled my movements with capriccio. The ship used its lower missiles to fire at me. Dearka made his way to my general location. The ship, as large as it was, could move very quickly, it managed to manoeuvre, while we continued to fire at it, and fire its upper beam cannons at us, causing us to divide ourselves further. I counter fired after their shot.

This vivacity of this battle was something I'd never felt so strongly. I adored it. When I look back now, I'm sure I felt some ignorant superiority over the Naturals, even though I couldn't care much "what" someone was… or so I thought.

Nothing could stop this battle; I glanced at my power, 45% remaining. Power was good. Nothing could go wrong. I then received an Emergency call message from bridge control: VESALIUS was damaged by surprise attack. Withdrawal all units immediately.

Organized confusion sprung over the intercom from the Duel, Blitz and Buster, respectively:

"The Vesalius was hit?"

"But how?"

"They're ordering us to retreat?"

The Legged ship fired its large beam cannons, which it had avoided using thought the whole battle, putting a good dent into the Vesalius, and then releasing a return signal and the Vesalius veering away from its predetermined course.

I watched Yzak batter with the Strike, Dearka noticed to, following him, we approached the Duel for backup. Then we received a stroke of luck, the Strike ran out of power as Yzak prepared to fire at it. The Aegis captured it as Yzak was pulling the trigger, which was against orders; we were to destroy the ship and G-weapon. We lost that advantage when the orange Earth mobile armour hit Athrun with shells, causing him to drop the machine, that then sped towards the Legged ship. It seemed Yzak was about to destroy the Strike with the igulstelung on his beam rifle that was fired at the Strike. When the missile hit the Strike, or so we thought, it tried to equip a new battery pack with a high powered rifle, like the Buster's. The igulstelung exploded in a cloud of shrapnel and energy.

I heard Yzak exclaim, rhetorically, "Did I get him?" and then a large beam shot out of the clearing cloud, taking the Duel's arm and rifle clean off as it tried to dodge. The enemy suit chased us off with its rifle and we ran with our tails between our legs. If we continued, we would run out of power. I looked at my power supply, 17%. I cut it close. Ten percent would have deactivated my phase shift armour and 5% would have shut down life support.

I was frustrated with Athrun's decision to capture the Strike from beneath the Duel's crosshairs. We could have ended this foul mission the same day that it started. Now we'd have to deal with a new problem. The Legged ship would soon be protected by the Eurasian base, Artimis.

* * *

After docking the Blitz, still high on adrenaline, I proceeded to the locker room aboard the Gamow, which the four of use pilots were now aboard. I pressed the button to the locker room door to see Athrun pinned against a locker by the platinum blonde youth. Yzak was clearly angry. I noticed Dearka in the room also, he was undoubtedly edging Yzak on.

"We went out with four machines and we still couldn't get him. It's too pathetic for words." Yzak glared at Athrun, but made the statement to both he and Nicol.

"Yell at Athrun all you want, but it won't change anything, will it!?" I would probably never have spoken to Yzak like that if I did not still have a full tank of adrenaline pulsing through me. Yzak had full right to be angry, but Athrun was my friend, and I could plainly see that something was wrong with him. I had guessed it while we prepared for the mission in the first place, before we lost Rusty and Miguel.

I attempted to get Athrun to talk to me, but he requested that I leave him alone and he left the room, still in his pilot suit, like the others had been when they exited after my rather forward comment towards Yzak.

I was left in the locker room, alone, in temporary peace, which was, once again, strange. I undressed. Removing my gloves, unzipping and removing the suit, I stood in the thin, spandex-like cotton shirt, shorts and white socks. Form fitting clothing was necessary underneath the pilot suit. I quickly put on my uniform, carful to avoid creases and wrinkles, leaving the neck unbuttoned. Tired, I leaned against the lockers and stared out at the hanger, watching the deck crew hook up the Blitz's charging system. I closed my eyes and bowed my head, sliding down to sit on the floor, then lazily, drawing my knees up to my chest and hugging them, laying my head on my knees. I don't know why, but I began to hum to myself a sad song, with a slow tempo. I'm sure I looked rather odd for a solider as I relaxed and thought about my mother. I leaned my head back and started at the lights on the ceiling. She was against me joining the military (yes, readers, really), she wanted me to stay home and play the piano and be a kid. She was so afraid that I was not going to come home someday. My father was another story. He wanted me to join the military, as most of the other council members had a child in the military. I had to honour them to make my father proud and my mother more approving, not just supporting.

I sighed and remembered a phrase, something I had heard about the wars of the past: _Dulce et Decorum Est_. Oh yes, how fitting indeed.

* * *

Okay, know what, so you people know, when you write a real story, it doesn't have excessive talking. When it's POV, there's even less. Go read an old piece of literature, The Lord of the Rings for example. There is minimal speech and even less commas. Scary, really…

So, know what, THIS IS MY STORY. The point is for you to learn about this soft spoken character, not a whole lot of extra talking. Kay? 


	7. Episode 6: What is Glass?

Well, I'm beginning to enjoy this story. I'm sure it's painfully boring, but, here it is anyways.

.....

* * *

"Hey, Athrun, wait up!" I was glad I managed to catch Athrun before he left to transfer to the Vesalius, and then go back to the Homeland for a meeting with the council.

"Nicol, hey."

"What's this I hear about you going with Commander Le Creuset to the Homeland? What's going on?"

"I'm sure it's nothing. They probably just want to be debriefed on the happenings at Heliopolis. No biggie."

I sighed, "I hope you're right. Tell me all you can when you get back! I'll be anxious to hear all you can tell me." I was a little nervous. I wondered what would happen to us when the Council heard that we'd not been able to destroy the Earth vessel.

"Y. Joule, N. Amalfi, D. Elsman, to the bridge for a status update on the Earth vessel," a female voice said over the intercom.

"Well, I gotta go now Athrun. While you're in the PLANT, promise me you'll take a rest while you have time."

Athrun laughed, I think he knew that I knew that he needed some time to sort his head out, "Don't worry Nicol, I plan to. If I see your father and he has a moment, I'll be sure to tell him that you're doing well."

I smiled; he knew that I missed my parents. "Thanks Athrun. I've seriously gotta go now. I don't want Yzak having a tantrum."

It was good to hear Athrun laugh again, breaking his somber mood, which he'd had as of late. We said our good-byes and I proceeded to the bridge.

* * *

"As you boys heard earlier, the Earth Vessel did, indeed make it to the Eurasian base of Artimas. We need to decide what coarse of action we will need to be taking in order to still pursue the ship.

Captain Zelman explained the situation and a bit about the base itself. The Artimas base was equipped with a light-wave barrier which blocked projectiles from both inside and outside of the base, meaning all attacks from either side would be in vain. As Yzak had pointed out to Dearka who made joke of the situation, we had to do_ something_, unless he wanted to be the poor soul to tell our commander that we weren't able to do anything. The captain also pointed out that our forces had never before had a reason to give much attention to this amazingly defended base until now, so no offensive strategy had been successfully carried out because if enemies came within detectable range of artimas, they would raise the protective barriers. Key word, _if_. And then I had an idea.

"My unit might just give us the advantage we need to pull this off. It has the same phase shift armor as the other mobile suits, but it has another interesting feature." The mirage colloid system was a new piece of technology for both ZAFT and OMNI (The lettering on the arm patches of the Earth soldiers). It released highly reflective particles over the armor of the mobile suit, making it appear invisible to its enemies. The only draw back is that it can only be used for about eighty minutes and overrides the phase shift armor.

I explained the feature to the other pilots and the captain; they agreed that it would work. I would use the cloaking system to get close to the base and then begin lopping off reflectors so that the other two machines could follow if the barrier was raised (because there would be holes in the shield system).

* * *

Shortly after the Artimis base lowered its shields I hopped into my mobile suit; I was a little nervous. The system was still untested, so I really had no idea whether the mirage colloid system would actually work. The only reason that I knew it existed was because I read the specs on the suit when I first brought it to the hanger.

"Nicol Amalfi, you are clear to launch."

"Roger that," after calibrating the Mirage Colliod system, I proceeded to the catapult. All green. "Nicol Amalfi, Blitz, launching."

* * *

I was invisible to the world. I'd be impressed if there was a detection system in existance that could detect my ghost. I flew on undetectable impulse engines until I reached the surface of the meteor-island in space. The deflectors were still closed, as expected. After I destroyed a good number of light emitters (the mechanisms that produce the shielding system) the Duel and Buster would sortie and join me here.

I deactivated my shielding and came into view, darkly, like out of glass. I was still undetected. I used the Blitz's shield mounted beam saber (note: Apparently, the rifle section of the shield is dismountable) and proceeded with destroying the reflectors. For some reason, I made a vow to myself. I would_ not_ allow my reluctance to fight interfere with this mission. It was my moment to prove myself to my aggressive teammates.

I continued to destroy reflectors, yet Artimis' forces did eventually come. I was not afraid to fight their forces alone, they would be no match for me… and then I worried that I was starting to sound like Yzak. The port (or so I assumed) of Artimas opened and I easily shot through them. Swiftly and easily I dodged all shots fired at me. I needed to find the Archangel. I had to. I was not going back to the Gamow empty handed and one to be teased by the other pilots.

Eventually, I cut my way past the mobile amours and into the hanger; in a closed area like this, I much preferred my beam saber over my beam rifle, or maybe I wanted to keep alive as many people as possible. A stroke of luck, I thought at the time, I had found the Archangel at last. Perhaps I could destroy it before it launched its mobile suit; I could kill two birds with one stone… or not. The mobile suit had already deployed and was heading with its sword-armor attached. In comparison to my beam sword, the Blitz's paled in comparison, so I knew I would have to beat him with maneuverability and distance. I said aloud to myself, "this time, I'll get him for sure". We dueled, at first with our grappling systems, my Glipnir against his Panzer Eisen. He drew his sword. I knew I needed to create distance. I performed as many dances as I knew how, I was clearly, as I had guessed faster, but for some reason, this other pilot had me backed into a corner, giving me no way to create distance now. I could only move backwards and dodge so fast. He continued to swing, my movement sped caused me to tense; he still attempted to gain distance. I fired my arsenal of lancer darts with no avail; the Strike cut them like it was its first nature.

The base began to fall around me. I needed to get out. I heard Dearka and Yzak looking for me over the crackly intercom. We needed to retreat. I should have guessed that the quickening destruction was resulting from their interference.

"Nicol, where are you?" Yzak repeated his message.

"I'm alright. I've found the ship and am engaging the Strike. We're in the ship bay."

"I hate to say it, but we need to pull out." I almost laughed. Was this disgrace that I heard in his voice?

"Yeah, looks like we screwed up again," Thank you for that encouragement Dearka.

"What!? But, I can still get him!" I dodged another slash from the strike.

"No Nicol, you can see this place coming down on us. We've got to go." The Strike pulled backwards and fell towards its ship. "Chickening out?!" I tried to follow him, but and explosion blocked my way, I only just protected myself with my shield against it. I had to retreat.

"Nicol, come ON!" Dearka sounded worried about me...

"Yeah, I'm coming,"

The three of us raced the inferno that trailed closely behind us. We followed the few remaining mobile armors, ignoring their fired shots as we passed them. My monitor was consumed in the light of the flames as I continued to press onward and focused on the signatures of my allies. Eventually we came out of the submersion of the flames, into the blackness of space. The Legged ship had gotten away and we were in no position to follow them; our power was low and our thrusters not as swift as the warship's engines.

That was my moment to prove myself. Dearka and Yzak seemed to think it was my reluctance to fight that allowed the ship to get away. Truth was, I didn't like fighting, but I still tried my best. I had enough pride in my elite uniform to not do my best.

* * *

After undressing, I headed to the shower to wash away the sweat and adrenaline. The showers were not connected to our rooms, they were in another section of the ship, not to far from my room. I removed my uniform, folded it and set it on a stool that was placed out side of the shower. I looked in the mirror. I wasn't really built like a solider, I didn't have broad shoulders, or thick arms. I was built like a kid... I was a kid... but that wasn't the point. Compared to Dearka and Yzak, I was small in more than the thickness of my body, I was also shorter and I appeared younger that I was. At fifteen I still had a rounded chin, gentile eyes, not those of a solider that had seen and done things many should never have to do, and my body bore no story. I was just a kid who could fly a mobile suit.

I closed my eyes, a little depressed, I walked into the shower and turned on the hot water, letting everything just was away.

What was I thinking...?

... For God, valour, honour, innocence, guilt and life.

* * *

.....

Hah! I said "Vessel" in this story and it made me think Star Trek XI, "WUCLEAR WESSELS CEPTEEN KORK," ahahahaahahaha…. "Mr. Wulcan". Ahahahha… man, I love Chekov. Awesome little Russian. xD


	8. Bonus 1: Keep your towel On!

Bonus Chapter

Hey guys, I've decided that some "fun and games" were in order… so I've decided to embarrass Nicol. That and this story needs some life… I thought about dropping the soap, but the showers are separate...

On with the show!

-----

I was finally finished my shower; I now felt much better than I had previously. I was in the solo-shower when someone else, whom I could clearly not see through the wall, came in. The water ran, I heard the rustle of fabric... Whoever it was, they were planning a shower. Now, incase you didn't know, many guys are very comfortable walking out in a towel in front of each other, as is the some for some girls. By the time I had come out of the shower stall, whoever had been running water before was in the shower. Unfortunatly for me afterwards, I had not taken note of the uniform that was layed beside mine. I had been about ten minutes examining myself in the mirror again, with the towel still on, when the other person came out of the shower. I took no notice, until I heard a surprised noise from behind me and wheeled around behind me. It was a woman, well, girl, and she was in a towel. I stood for a moment, completely shocked. This was the MENS' shower room. She walked up beside me to use the sink, still wearing nothing but a towel, taking little notice that a half naked guy stood next to her. I could only stare blankly and stiffly, until she noticed I was there.

"Oh, isn't this the women's' shower room?" she asked with inquiring periwinkle eyes.

"Wha-uh… no… this is the mens' shower… room…" I tried to picture her in anything EXCEPT a towel. I was beginning to feel rather uncomfortable.

"My mistake then." She said, seeming to not really care and began looking at herself in the mirror, then grabbed her breasts, "Do I have small boobs?"

I was a little shocked... okay, _really_ shocked. I could only stare at her eyes for some notion of her intentions, then at her breasts, and then at her face. "Uhm.. sorry, what?" I could feel my ears and cheeks burning. She looked at me sideways and frowned, then, turning to face me, her slick, dark brown hair swished,

"Something wrong?" She studied me with almost blind-looking eyes.

I flinched. "What do you mean, is there 'something wrong!?' There's a naked girl in a towel, in the men's shower room and she doesn't seem to care that she's in the MENS' shower room with a guy in a towel!"

She frowned again, "Well SORRY if I'm used to being around naked guys!"

I stared again and now curious, " 'used to it!?' What's that supposed to mean?!"

She seemed to grab a hair-elastic out of thin air and began to put her hair in a ponytail while looking in the mirror, "Most of my friends are guys. I've seen it all… why are you staring at my breasts?" I blushed. I hadn't realized that I had been staring at them. The girl sneered, approached me and stopped at an uncomfortable distance, she stood on her toes and put her bare hands on my equally bare chest, and I closed my eyes tightly and looked away.

"Could you please give me some space? You're making me feel uncomfortable."

Ignoring my question she spoke with a smirk, "So, what's your name soldier?"

"It's… it's Nicol… Nicol Amalfi…."

She snickered, "Ahh, the son of Representative Amalfi, no doubt. My name is _Aki _(yes, I realize that is my "webname" but she was a requested character), mister Amalfi.

A voice rang over the intercom "Lieutenant Hiatsu, to the bridge. Lieutenant Hiatsu, to the bridge."

"Aw, what a shame. Looks like you're off the hook, mister Amalfi." She winked and took her uniform into a stall to dress. She was gone before I had caught my breath. What a bizarre girl. I hadn't thought to report her for harassment… although, I probably wouldn't have been believed.

For the rest of the day, I had thought about that strange girl. Not many guys are pounced on by a pretty girl everyday, but it still felt wrong. What worried me was that I wasn't sure if her forwardness had been kind of sexy. "Women…"

…. I'm really sorry you guys. But, I hope this made you feel a little more comfortable with Nicol as a character. Sometimes it's good to be a little un-solider like… and un-ladylike.

I just needed to write some bullshit, so I did.


	9. Episode 7 and 8: The Wound to Morale

Note: The third country in the lead for most hits is France (closely followed by Australia), topped only by the USA and Canada, obviously because of language. ATTENTION TO THE FRENCH: Your country kicks ass. I've been to Paris and some smaller places and loved it… Except for the part where I got harassed by someone thinking I was from the USA… apparently they hated Americans ("Je suis Canadien, meric et vous!")… Not gonna lie though, people in only Paris were rude, everywhere else = win.

Question for the French: Would you read this if I wrote it in French (Canadian French, but w/e)? It might be getting translated into German… I love bilingual friends (but I'm the only trilingual!).

Just to make sure you guys have some moderate knowledge (I'm sure many of you do), you guys know that all of the members of the Le Creuset team have parents on the council (except Rusty), right? You've seen Representative Amalfi, (doesn't know the title) Joule and Chairman Zala. Dearka's father has long wavy brown hair.

Also, you people, registered or guests (GUESTS CAN COMMENT, EH?) who don't comment kinda piss me off… more or less because there are so few comments. I mean, hell, this story has received over 168 hits just this month alone. I write for about two hours, I'd like comments, thanks. I'd like approval for choices, or disapproval for the same reasons. Also, if you people have extra info, PLEASE, let me know it so I can combine it into the story. Theories work too.

* * *

A few days had passed since the three of us had demolished most of the Artimis Base (btw, OMNI rebuilds it, and that fat bastard commander is still alive). I had gotten a few hours of sleep in on my downtime, which I had had a lot of in those days; we had lost track of the enemy vessel. Luckily, we had some time to make up for our blunder, my blunder, because the Commander and Athrun would not be returning for a few days… however, if we did not find the ship again, Commander Le Creuset would have our heads.

I sighed, staring at the ceiling while lying on my bed, wondering what it would be like to be present for a council meeting; it was as a great honour to be present.

It was hard to receive new information from the homeland; information took such a long time to be sent by laser and emails were prohibited for security precautions. My thoughts drifted to the corners of my mind; to my mother, my missed piano lessons, how much I missed hanging out with friends and being a kid.

I had hoped that Athrun's short vacation would clear his mind and give him some time to return to himself again.

There was a sharp knocking on my door, "Hey Nicol, I've gotten some important news from the homeland, open up!" It was Dearka. His excited voice was laced with bad news. As soon as I opened the door, and began to say 'what is it,' Dearka blurted out "Lacus Clyne has gone missing!" I frowned, not understanding what he had just said. What had happened to Athrun's Fiancée? "She was on her way to the wreckage of Junius Seven aboard the Silverwind for the memorial services and the ship and crew have been listed as MIA!"

"That's not funny Dearka."

"Nicol, I'm serious! Lacus is MISSING." I was speechless. "Commander Le Creuset is on his way back as we speak, with the Laconi and Porto teams to conduct a larger search party," Dearka crossed his arms, "We Reds really know how to get in on the most elite of missions, huh? Why not just let the Yun Law Team finish what they've started? They are already doing a search party with their reconnaissance pilots," he actually seemed disappointed that we were going to look for the PLANT's most beloved songstress and icon!

* * *

ON ANOTHER NOTE, "Into the Quiet Night," original version, sounds really cool sped up to 1.5X the speed. Worth a remix, FTW… same with the 1st ending song.

Please comment, thanks.

Also, sorry for the load of errors in the last chapter, I was on a Mac and saved the file under the wrong extension, so I couldn't edit it, sorry…

I think… I'ma going to start the next chapter right this second… :)


	10. Episode 9: Beginning of the Coda

So, I kinda combined the end of episode 8 with 7…. So, this will be a rather short chapter… sorry…

* * *

I was anxious to know more about this new development, so I decided I would go to the cafeteria to see if I could get more information form the other soldiers. I had tried to occupy myself with adjustments to the Blitz's OS and reflex program, but I couldn't wait anymore. I just had to talk about it; her disappearance was significant to me, as I loved her songs.

As I entered the cafeteria, someone called to me, "Hey, Nicol!" I glanced toward the call, it was Dearka and he was waving me over, he was sitting at a table across from Yzak. I walked over and sat down beside Dearka, "So, did you give my news some thought?" he said with a wink.

"I don't really believe it. I mean, how would she go missing? She was aboard a civilian ship on her way to honour the souls of Junius Seven."

"Maybe some Naturals attacked the ship?"

"Why in hell would they do that Dearka?" Yzak watched Dearka, leaning on his elbows, which rested on the table, "it's a civilian ship".

"Yzak, you're normally the first to jump to blaming Naturals, why are you disagreeing now?"

"Yeah, well, they're not that stupid."

"Yzak, not so loud, it'll be frowned upon if we start saying to mu-" I was cut-off by a low voice from behind me, "It will do you boys well to not gossip about Lacus's disappearance," I nearly fell out of my chair when I turned around to see Captain Zelman behind me, on his break from duty, "She is Athrun's fiancée, don't forget, and the daughter of Chairman Clyne. Her disappearance is significant in its self, but if the Earth forces have had a part in this, there will revenge sought by ZAFT. Athrun will be obligated to search for her, and since he may not relax, neither will you." Dearka mumbled something about us having too much down time as it was. With his speech done, the Captain retrieved a coffee and before exiting, mentioned that the Commander was to return soon and that there was an Earth Forces fleet on radar, it was guessed that it was to meet the Legged ship. Apparently, we were to join in the fight that the Vesalius was engaging in as we spoke, if the Legged ship appeared.

A battle after days of nothing? Sounded good to me.

* * *

Yuh, so, I just realized how uneventful it must be to be a solider with naught to do, even though I have friends in the Canadian Forces who've told me the same thing.


	11. Episode 10 and 11: Bleed

Just put my cat down (he had cancer) and I'm feeling really… really…. Realllllyyyyy depressed to have lost my oldest friend (he was 14) and I'm still in shock that I'm not going to see my baby boy everyday, so I'm hoping that writing will keep me sane and from crying again for another 6 hours... hope I can see the screen well enough to write.

* * *

Our battle was to be delayed as the Earth forces had announced that they had Miss Lacus aboard as a hostage. By some strange stroke of luck, the pilot of the Earth Forces ship returned her to us unharmed, without any catches or conditions attached. I was curious as to how Athrun was reacting to his fiancée's capture and return; I already knew that the other soldiers were furious that the Earth Forces were furious. We were to meet up with the Vesalius in seven hours to devise appropriate action, however, battle was decided for us beforehand; Captain Zelman ordered our sortie. The three of us pilots were ordered out to the frontlines as soon as we were within acceptable range of the enemy ship and we were to devise our own course of action.

During our planning for the mission, I expressed my concerns about how long it would take to complete the mission and the severe time restraints on the mission; we'd _only_ have ten minutes. If we were caught by the weapons of the Lunar Fleet we'd be in severe trouble. Dearka, on the other hand, being sadistically optimistic pointed out that "we'd have a full ten minutes."

Yzak regarded the caution in my logic as "cowardly." As a solider, cautious logic was important, but not to Yzak; his ideal solider was brawny and brash. "Are there only ten minutes, or are there a full ten minutes? It's all in how you look at it really. My take on it is: if we have a full ten minutes to destroy the Legged ship before it joins up with the fleet then we can't pass u[ the opportunity."

"The success of a mission isn't determined by the actual time spent." Dearka added to indicate he was (once again) siding with Yzak.

"It's not that I don't know that but--"

"I hear that the Vesalius will be turning around as soon as they hand Miss Clyne over to the Homeland. We'll sink that ship before then, got it?" Yzak seemed to think that all end decisions were on him.

"A-okay," Dearka agreed with a thumbs up. I was not quite as pleased with a mission of a fifty-fifty percent chance of failure. My acknowledgment was much less enthusiastic than Dearka's.

"So now that our plan has been decided, who's up for some grub first?" Dearka asked with a smile.

"Yeah, I could go for something to eat, right about now." Yzak said turning to face Dearka.

"Nicol, you in?"

I was a little shocked that I was being included, however I declined. As childish as I was being, I was a pettily irritated with Yzak's plan and discourse at the moment. I followed the other two pilots into the elevator, vaguely listening to either of them, as Dearka seemed to have a large quantity of Natural jokes today, and I had little taste for them. War has always painted the opposition in a negative light. The end of a war always ended the same… Ein volk, ein reich, ein führer… why did that phrase make me think of how our world was beginning to look? Or was I just noticing it?

……

I prepared for battle with static running through my veins. Not only because I was as nervous as hell about the mission, but that my adrenalin was high again; it was probably my rather high adrenaline rushes that made me qualify as a solider in battle. I felt like the most alive thing in the void for miles, which I probably was, save for the ships in the area, and Dearka and Yzak. I had just realized something: this was my first attempt to use my mirage colloid in battle. As the Legged ship made its first shot, which was directed at me, I enabled the usage of the system, transforming me into a spatial ghost. They fired again, however their shots didn't explode or discharge a beam, at this I was surprised, were they getting that desperate? I laughed; they weren't even putting up a barrage as they normally would. I took the chance to fire, as I was sure it had zero negative effects for me, and then, after my shot was deflected my white light I realized two things: (1) they had used anti-beam depth charges and (2) I just gave away my position. Moments after my shots were fired, bullet-filled missiles were shot my way, on target, forcing me to drop my colloid system and shield myself.

The battle was proving to be as short as ten minutes, out of those almost eight had passed, I was focused on blasting at the neck of the Legged ship's bridge (why I had not made for the bridge is beyond me) until the Strike, which was the name we had discovered for the enemy machine, slashed at me as I dodged him, earning my mobile suit a knee to the face, I recoiled backwards, hard. Thoughts of counter attack crossed my mind as I gained my bearings. I noticed the approaching fleet, flying as to retreat, I noticed the Duel was spraying sparks, still floating backwards from its clash with the Strike, out of its hip joints. I caught the recoiling Duel by the shoulders.

"Yzak!" No answer. "Yzak, are you okay in there!?"

"It burns! It burns! It BURNS!" Yzak was yelling to himself through grit teeth.

I glanced up for the Buster, "Dearka!"

"What's the matter Nicol?"

"It's Yzak!" My reply had confirmed his estimation that Yzak was injured. "Dearka, we have to retreat, the enemy fleet is coming!"

"Dammit…"

We had lost again, and now, with a casualty.

When Yzak and I had entered the hanger and docked our suits, I was the first at his cockpit, after, the medical team I had called for already on its way. I opened his cockpit. He was hunched foreward slightly, as much as his safety belt would let him, and clutched his left eye over the cracked glass of his helmet; I could see some blood smeared on the inner glass and some floating in the gravity-less air. He kept yelling "It burns! It burns!" I tried to talk to him, calm him down, but he was in a state of shock and beyond all coherencies; I wouldn't enter the cockpit out of fear of being electrocuted by the fried hardware. Dearka appeared beside me and entered the cockpit while I stood outside. He put a hand on each of Yzak's shoulders and tried to talk to him soothingly. We could only imagine what hot glass in our faces would feel like. Dearka showed no fear of electrocution, but he was cautious. Yzak tried to shake off Dearka's hands with no avail. We were asked to move by the medics so that they could tend to him. Yzak fought, trying not to let go of his face, using his elbows and feet to fend off the medical team, giving a few of them bruises. The team gave up and coaxed a very much in pain Yzak to the medical wing of the ship. God help them. Dearka and I agreed with each other to wait outside for Yzak to have the glass removed, however I said I would report to the bridge to see that the Commander (more importantly, Athrun) received news of Yzak's injury.

* * *

Next chapter will be about a very pissed off and in pain Yzak. See you then!


	12. Episode 12: Prick

I don't even fucking know anymore… I'm not sure if I'm on chapter 10 or 11, or which one I watched… gah…. Fuck.. OH WELL, SORRY BUT I HA TO COMBINE THE LAST CHAPTER AS ONE. I promise to make this one long. :)

* * *

Outside of the medical station I could hear Yzak protesting with all the fury of a caged animal. I could hear trays of equipment falling over, glass breaking and the arguments from the doctors; none were as loud as Yzak. The battle behind the door had only been faught for a few minutes, and began to quiet down as Yzak began to lose blood. The doctor invited Dearka and I inside the room to hopefully calm the fiery blonde who scowled angrily and wearily at the ceiling while the doctor leaned over him with a pair of tweezers and a needle, sewing up Yzak's wound. I couldn't see much of it, although I could clearly see, on the table next to the doctor, an assortment of blood covered glass shards, some of which were burned with brown scorch marks.

"How ya feelin' Yzak?" Dearka asked by my side.

"How the hell do you _think_ I feel?" he vocally scowled, "I lost to the Strike, again!" Dearka approached Yzak slightly.

Dearka laughed, but not out of humor, "that's not quite what I meant. I meant your wound; ya gonna live?" The doctor helped Yzak into a sitting position, careful not to nudge any of the I.V.s in his arm, one of which was giving him blood; the doctor walked over to the counter on the far side of the room to retrieve some supplies, leaving the pilots to have an unobstructed conversation.

"It's only a flesh wound, I'll be just fine." Yzak said scornfully and half yelling as he had been since he had been admitted to the medical center. He was clearly more than simply furious about his wound. It was silent for a moment, and then Yzak glanced at me from the corner of his eye, "what the hell are you looking at?"

I hadn't realized, but I had been staring at his stitches. "I uh…" I couldn't answer. His wound was larger than I had guessed. He had a long, deep incision from just above the area between his eyes to his cheekbone, where the padded helmet had guarded the rest of his face. It was raw and still dripped blood, which was smeared on his face around the smaller cuts around it and on his shirt. The navy stitches that adorned the main wound made his icy eyes seem colder, the fact that he had been crying made them seem no darker. Yzak's bangs stuck to his forehead, in a sporadic fashion, from blood and sweat.

"_Well_?"

"Nothing… I just… does it hurt?"

"Of coarse it does! I had glass in my face! Don't ask stupid questions!" Yzak's expression twisted horridly and then he cringed, lessening the cruelty of it, from the pulling stitches. He watched the doctor sit down on the edge of his bed with a roll of bandages. "I don't need those."

"I'm sorry Yzak, but you have to, your wound will still bleed and crack for the next little while. We have to keep it clean." The doctor said.

Yzak growled, "Fine…" The doctor placed a large wad of gauze on Yzak's wound, which covered a bit of his eye, and placed the edges of the bandage on the beginning of his cheek bone and began to wrap the left side of his face, and then around his forehead, silver hair poked out randomly through the bandages.

The doctor requested that Yzak get plenty of rest and to not strain his face for fear of opening the wound again. He also said that Yzak would not be piloting for the next little while, at hearing that, Yzak threw the clipboard on the bedside table at him, and missed.

"Having some depth perception trouble, Yzak?" Dearka joked.

"Shut up! How about I shove some glass in your face and see how good of a mood _you're_ in!" Yzak yelled at Dearka, who was only joking. All this yelling had frusterated the doctor and he asked Dearka and I (who hadn't really said anything) to leave and let Yzak rest, which caused Yzak to protest. Apparently he was fine. A huge gash in ones face obviously wasn't a big enough wound for him. Yzak began to become furious as the doctor wished for him to rest and stay calm. "What the hell are you talking about you idiot?! I'm fine! Shut the hell up and leave me alone!"

"Yzak, please calm down, you'll rip your stitches." The doctor walked over to the counter again and rummaged threw the drawers and extracted a needle and loaded it with clear fluid.

"No more damn needles! You people have stuck me with enough already!"

"It's not going in your skin."

"Then what's it for?!" The doctor injected the needle into an I.V. bag with clear fluid.

"You'll find out in a moment."

Yzak continued to scowl at the doctor until he began to squint and tightly close and open his eyes, "w-wha… what did…" Yzak mumbled a bit and then passed out backwards onto the pillow.

"Finally some silence."

Dearka laughed, I only watched; I didn't feel there was much to laugh at. Yzak was hurt and defensive, it was understandable.

Dearka turned to me and approached me, "so Nicol, I'm hungry, let's get a bite, hmmm?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah…" I began to follow Dearka out the door and then glanced behind me at Yzak. It was strange seeing him sleep; his face was smooth and gentile, rather than angry or proud.

"Hey, you coming?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry… Doctor, when will Yzak be battle ready?"

"A few weeks at most, he should heal quickly." The doctor had picked up the thrown clip board and was writing on it.

Dearka and I left the room and headed for the cafeteria.

All these battles were going to make our lives tough.

* * *

Yuh, so, there's the, yet again, short chapter.... well, 300 words shorter, or so. Hope you enjoyed lotsa talking!


	13. Episode 13: Fall and Fight

The following day had come very quickly for the crew of the Gamow; the Duel had been repaired and upgraded with a ZAFT made armour set with a shoulder mounted beam rifle and rocket launcher and Yzak had fought with the doctors through most of the night over having to stay in their care. The four of us, Athrun included, were going to destroy the Legged ship, this time for sure, or else we would lose it when it dropped into the Earth's atmosphere.

The 8th fleet seemed well ready for our assault; they had launched their mobile armours, creating lines of defence. Yzak, deemed un-battle ready by the doctors, had fought his way to the Duel; if we were to take down the Strike and the Legged ship, he wasn't going to miss out… that, and he was Hell-bent on revenge.

We launched our mobile suits, joined by several GINNs from the Porto and Leconi teams. We were ready for the infamous 8th fleet, which we knew was no real threat to us; we could take down several warships apiece. This was my first large scale battle in which I could strategically use my mirage colloid system effectively as a weapon. Although the Blitz had less firepower that the Buster's gun-launcher and high energy beam rife, the Aegis' Scylla cannon and the Duel's rocket launcher and dual beam rifles, I could easily destroy warships with my Glipnir by using the colloid system to get close and then releasing straight through the ship's bridge; it was hard to hit an enemy that was mere meters away from the bridge. I noticed Yzak's Duel; he seemed to be having little to no trouble with fighting, so I assumed that his wound wasn't hurting his will to fight any.

After several minutes of fighting I noticed that it seemed that the Fleet had numerous, and seemingly endless, mobile armours; they just kept coming, even though the number of warships had been diminished by half.

I saw the Legged ship beginning to descend into the atmosphere. "Look at the Archangel!" I shouted over the intercom. We had spent too much time on the ships that didn't matter, and now we were going to miss our chance. At that moment, we put all out efforts on destroying that ship. At full impulse, the five of us tried to avoid as much conflict as we could, however, only the Duel and the Buster made it through the front lies at first. They followed the enemy ship lower and closer into the atmosphere, the pressure was on and we could feel it, even the Gamow had lowered itself into the atmosphere; Captain Zelman was going to duel the enemy flagship. Athrun and I were still stuck between enemy lines, trying to reach the Archangle, but it was too late. Our mission began to fall apart: we had just lost the Gamow, who sacrificed them self to destroy the Earth flagship, Dearka and Yzak were stuck in the Earth's gravitational pull and we had, yet again, lost the Archangel; Athrun and I, with the help of the GINNs, had obliterated the front lines, however, the Archangel had dropped to quickly. The best that may be hoped for is that Yzak destroy the Strike, before the heat in his cockpit made itself his prime problem. I called for them to come back, but it was too late.

Now what?

* * *

It's probably really sad, but I just realized the difference between the following words:

Dual: Meaning "two of."

And

Duel: A prearranged fight with deadly weapons by two people (accompanied by seconds) in order to settle **a quarrel over a point of honour**. (Google dictionary)

Now, who fights over honour? Yzak kept his scar because his honour was wounded by the Strike and his anger towards Athrun is because his honour is hurt when he is appointed "commander Zala."

And another thing for people who aren't from my coutry: I spell honour and colour, among other words, with a "u" because I'm Canadian.


	14. Episode 14: Panic ::Pending::

NOTICE TO READERS!!

I give you NO MORE CHAPTERS until you REVIEW. This is ridicules, please review, I can see how many people view this story. If you want more, send me a short review, thanks, have a nice day. I only ask for 3 reviews, that's it, and I will post the next chapter. I also know that many readers are Users: No excuse. I have NON-USER REVIEWING IS ENABLED.


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